Women of STW - what gearing do you run on your CX bikes?

Just bought a CX bike (yay!) & haven't had a chance to rise it properly yet, but a quick blast round the block indicate I'm probably going to be over-geared. The rings are 38/46 & even in the 'small ring' the steep little access road behind our house felt pretty tough.

Obviously, I'll go for a proper ride or two first but I'm thinking a 34/? is going to be more my cup of tea. Also wondering if a single ring might be more than enough for me since I won't be racing.

Last season, my team-mate was running 34 or 36 with 12-27 cassettes. We got rid of the big ring, a 46, because she never used it off-road, shortened the chain, removed the gear cable and used the front mech as a chain keeper. Worked a treat.

Ooh I like that idea crispycross! I'm quite keen to avoid spending more money at this stage when it's all so new, though obviously I'd still need a new ring as I think 38 will be too big. Does she need to run a bash with it too? And does the standand ring keep the chain on Ok, even being ramped?

Also good to know that it's not just me that finds my gearing a bit steep!

I run 50/34 with a 12-30 at the back. I use my CX about 80% on road so find the big ring at the front quite useful. However, if I was only (mostly) riding off road I could probably lose it as I tend to go straight to the little ring when I go off piste. They're great bikes - love the ability to see a bit of a track or bridleway and think, "What's down there..?"

Cool. Do you reckon a front mech/chain device with just a normal ring would do the trick?

They're great bikes - love the ability to see a bit of a track or bridleway and think, "What's down there..?"

Yep, hit the nail on the head there, that's exactly why I've gone for one.

My other two bike (mtb & road) are both ss so I think I'll be happy enough with just 10 gears, even if I do spin out on the road a bit, most of the time, I hope to be at least on bridleways and the like.

Just trying to work out how to do it most cheaply and without taking things so far that I can't easily put it back to stock, given that it's all quite new and I may want to change the bike itself if I don't get on with it for whatever reason..

I have 36/46 with an 11-28 rear cassette on my caadx. That's got me up everything I've attempted so far, although I've occasionally wished for a 34T front ring on the occasional very steep hill. I found it a bit difficult to begin with but, as I've got fitter, I don't think I'd change it now.

I think that 36/46 and 38/46 combos are for proper CX racing.
My Boardman CX is 50/34 with an 11/32 cassette which is pretty versatile for general on and off road use rather than racing.
I am a man btw

I'm a big strong bloke and a single speeder too, and I rarely use the big ring. Never off road and only when I've really got it wound up on the road.
I tend to only use the small ring because it's there as a bail out gear well.
I'd probably manage fine 90% of the time on 1x10, 32x11-32 or similar.

Thanks guys, this is really helpful. Maybe even a 34t might be tougher than I need then? Having said that, I am pretty light so not a bad climber, and do have some good racing Ralph's, which cane on the bike. But yeah... Certainly the more I read on here the more I think 1 x 10 will do me.

Think I might start by trying to find a cheap 34t ring & take it from there...